As world leaders convened for the 81st session of the UN General Assembly, calls intensified for Africa to gain permanent representation on the Security Council, with the continent’s exclusion described as increasingly untenable.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres, delivering his final address to the global body before stepping down later this year, said the Council reflected the power structure that emerged after World War II. “But the world has fundamentally changed since then,” he said, arguing that a Security Council without a “permanent African seat is unjust and indefensible”.
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Nigeria’s Vice President Kashim Shettima, representing President Bola Tinubu, backed the appeal. He said Africa should receive two permanent seats on the Council, insisting that “the world of 2026 cannot remain captive to the distribution of power in 1945.”
Other African representatives also pressed for reform. South Africa’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Mxolisi Sizo Nkosi, said restructuring the Security Council remains a key priority for Pretoria during the 81st UN General Assembly. South Africa is seeking broader backing for the continent’s position, set out in the Ezulwini Consensus, the official African framework for UN reform.
